Caught in Time: Castle Lamia
by Shadow Van Helsing
Summary: (Please note, this is a crossover from many different movies, not just Van Helsing) What happens when an ordinary teenager finds out that he has been living a lie and that he is really Van Helsing? Together with the aid of some friends, Elijah, aka Van Helsing, must work out how to escape the mysterious Castle Lamia.


Caught in time: Hotel Lamia…

My name is Elijah Drakesworth. I'm sitting in the back seat, listening to mum and dad ague. We had been driving around, searching for the hotel, but, unfortunately, my dad's sense of direction was inaccurate as ever.

"John, we've been driving around for ages and we haven't seen a single house, much less a hotel," mum complained.

"Hey, don't blame me! It wasn't my idea to ask that elderly couple for directions!" dad snapped.

"You're the one who's driving! You said you knew the way!" mum snapped back.

"Mum, I told you Romania is the worst place to holiday!" I said in my high, whinny voice.

"Elijah, don't start!" mum scolded. I huffed.

"But I'm _bored_!"

"I don't care. Look out your window," mum hissed. I sniffed.

"There's nothing to look at except cows and other various boring stuff," I complained. Mum rolled her eyes at me.

"Look for a sign, then," dad suggested.

"Yeah, O.K, whatever," I said flatly. I pushed back my long brown hair. (I really needed a haircut) Most people go to places like Hawaii or Canada for a holiday. But we had to go to Romania. Yeah, you heard me- _Romania_. You think that I would be interested because Romania is supposed to be where vampires come from, right? Wrong. For one thing, vampires _do not_ exist and I am not superstitious.

Anyway, we're searching for some five-star hotel mom had us booked into but we can't even find a single town, much less a hotel. The sun was setting behind the Carpathians and still no sign of a sign.

Scratch that- I can see a sign coming up ahead.

Hotel Lamia următor opriți

(Hotel Lamia next turn off)

I stare at the sign for some time. Something is nagging at the back of my mind. Something about the word _Lamia_...

Whatever that thought was, I quickly forgot about it. A Hotel! And about time, too. The sun was swallowed up by the Carpathians, leaving the land in darkness. Hopefully it would have free Wi-Fi service so I can at least connect with the rest of the world.

We turned down a dirt road with a sign announcing that 'Hotel Lamia' was this way. After about ten minutes, mom hit the brakes. We all sat gaping at what we saw.

"Well, you've got to admit that this is way better then the Hotel I had us booked into," mom said. Dad nodded in agreement.

"You mean that creepy castle?" I exclaimed. 'Hotel Lamia' was a huge castle that looked like it came out of a horror movie. Not that I watch horror movies.

"You know what it looks like? Castle Frankenstein out of _Van Helsing_," dad said, referring to his favourite horror movie. I looked at it sceptically.

"Castle Frankenstein was a fake castle created by Computer Generated special effects, dad, so I don't see how this could look like that," I muttered.

"Grow an imagination," dad snapped.

"Whatever," I grimaced.

"Oh, stop it! Let's see if we can get a room for the night," Mum snapped. We got out of the car and started walking to where it said _Reception _in several different languages. I have to admit, the architecture was pretty good but I'm not about to say that out loud. When we went inside, the Reception lady smiled at us like we were long lost friends.

"It'll be Room 202 then?" She said, handing us a key.

"Um, we weren't really…" Mum began.

"Don't stress. It's the only room vacant," The Reception lady laughed.

"O.K, but how much will it cost?" Mum demanded.

"Oh, it's real cheap. But don't worry; we'll collect your payment later." I frowned. This place was giving me bad vibes but I was too tired to care. We all trudged up what seemed like a million flights of stairs (No Elevator; Go Figure) until we found a sign directing us to the hotel rooms. Room 202 was right at the end of a long hallway. I was so tired that I collapsed on a bed and was instantly asleep.

I got quite a shock waking up in the morning- for a second I wasn't sure where I was. Then the events of the previous night came flooding back to me and I groaned. I swear, if this hotel didn't have free Wi-Fi, then my head just might explode. I swung myself out of bed and glanced around the room.

I was sitting on a bunk bed. Mum and Dad were snoring in the double bed on the other side of the room. The room itself was big- twice the size of our lunge room. I frowned when I noticed several paintings of a man. He had long black hair and a moustache the size of a rat. I wondered who he was. Shaking my head, I jumped off my bed. It was time to see if this place has free Wi-Fi or not.

Bad news: It didn't. This was my worst nightmare. I wondered into the Cafeteria and ordered some breakfast. When I tried to pay for it, the Cafeteria lady shook her head.

"No charge- payment will come later," She barked. I shrugged and sat down at an empty table to wait. The Cafeteria was packed with people.

I noticed a girl watching me. She was about my age and her long curly brown hair reached down past her waist. I stared right back at her but she didn't look away like a good majority of people would. Her brown eyes stared right into my eyes. Finally, I had to look away. I could still feel her eyes on me. The Cafeteria Lady brought me my breakfast. She reminded me of my English teacher back at home- chubby around the edges and the annoying tendency to wear too much mascara.

Whatever.

Anyway, I was in a pretty bad mood by the time I chocked down the last remains of my breakfast- the food here was terrible.

I got up to leave but was stopped by the girl with curly brown hair.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed. I made a face at her.

"None of your business," I snapped. She recoiled like I'd hit her or something. But then she set her mouth in a straight line and glared right back at me.

"You shouldn't be here," she whispered.

"I know. This place sucks," I said.

"If Vlad knew you were here…" The girl shook her head impatiently. She grabbed my arm and tried to pull me away.

"What's your problem?!" I snarled, jerking my arm away. Everybody in the cafeteria was watching us.

"You making a scene," she muttered. I wanted to hit her. Who did she think she was, anyway? What kind of sick joke was this?

Before she could grab my arm again, I turned and ran towards the hotel rooms to find my parents.

Room 202's door was open.

_Odd_, I thought. I went inside and stopped.

There was no one in the room. The beds were made and our suitcases were gone. In fact, it looked like the room had never been used.

I pulled out my phone. I was just about to call Mum when I realised there were no bars. I groaned.

Great, no internet and no phone service- this place was horrible. There were no elevators either.

I guess I'll have to look for my parents the old fashioned way.

First, I'll pay a visit to the Cafeteria again to see if they are there. Hopefully that weird girl won't be there.

Shoving my hands in my pockets, I walked quickly to the Cafeteria. I glanced around at all the faces of the people. None of them were familiar.

Scratch that- the girl was here. When she met my eyes, she gave me a long sad look.

_Your funeral_, she mouthed at me.

_Whatever_, I mouthed back.

Afterwards, I checked the room again but the result was the same.

Finally, I went to the reception desk. There was a different lady at the reception. Her extremely pale face made her red lips and dark eye-liner stand out. I was tempted to tell her that she should get out in the sun more but I held my tongue.

When she saw me, she smiled, revealing slightly pointy teeth. The word _vampire_ flashed into my head but I dismissed it. This was no time for childish thoughts.

"_Bună ziua, cu ce vă pot ajuta_?" she asked in a thick Romanian accent.

"Um…English?"

"Hello, how may I help you?"

"I'm looking for my parents," I said.

"O.K, can you give me your name?"

"Elijah Drakesworth."

The reception lady frowned.

"Did no one tell you? The payment has been collected. Your parents were part of the deal."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. The reception lady smiled at me- her sharp teethe flashing.

"You'll see."

Suddenly, I had to get out of here. Something weird was going on.

Before I could respond, I heard a voice.

"I told you that you shouldn't be here."

It was that weird girl I'd encountered in the cafeteria. The reception lady nodded to the girl.

"Where have you been, Anna? Vlad wanted to see you."

"Go stuff garlic down your throat!" the girl snapped. The reception lady hissed. By this time, I was totally confused. What nonsense was this?

Before I could ponder over this, the girl- Anna? - grabbed me by the arm and started dragging me up the stairs. She was surprisingly strong and had no trouble hurling me up a flight of stairs.

"Where are we going?" I snapped.

"Keep quiet, Gabriel!" she snapped.

"My name is-"

"I said keep quiet!"

I twisted my wrist but the girl's grip tightened painfully.

"Let me go!" I heard the girl mutter a curse under her breath.

"Look, do you want to get out of this hotel or not? I'm trying to help you but you're not making it easy, Gabriel!"

Before I could respond, the girl shoved me into a hotel room. I stumbled. The girl locked the door behind her.

"Let me guess- the arrogant reckless popping jay followed us into the Time-Stop Zone and now he's stuck here as well," came the voice of a boy. I looked around and saw a blond-haired boy about the same age as me sitting on a bunk-bead.

"Apparently so, Carl, and I think he left half his brain back in 1889," the girl said sarcastically.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"See what I mean?" the girl said. The boy studied me closely.

"So, what's the plan, Van Helsing?" he asked.

"What?"

"How are we going to escape the castle?"

"What are you talking about? My name is not Gabriel, nor Van Helsing, its Elijah and I swear if you don't tell me what's going on, my head just might explode!" I shouted. The boy's mouth dropped open.

"You seriously don't remember? My name is Carl and this is Anna Valerious. We're caught up in a Time-Stop Zone and we need to escape," the boy, Carl said. I could hear a touch of panic in his voice.

"Don't bother. I think they wiped his memory or something," the girl, Anna muttered, leaning up against a wall. Something pushed its way to the front of my mind.

The girl's name was Anna, the boy's name was Carl and they had called me Gabriel and Van Helsing. Hang on a sec, Gabriel Van Helsing, Anna and Carl were the names of three characters in Dad's favourite movie, _Van Helsing_. Holy cow, how could I have been so stupid?  
"O.K, the jokes up, you can stop now," I said.

Anna and Carl gave me blank expressions.

"Seriously, you really had me going here!" I forced a laugh.

"Like I said, half his brain is back in 1889," Anna muttered.

"Yeah, he's more irritating than usual," Carl agreed. I was one step away from total melt down. Carl gave me a half-synthetic, half-annoyed look.

"Sit down, Van Helsing."

"It's Elijah."

"Umm... Sorry, sit down Elijah."

I shrugged and sat down on the bed opposite the bunk.

"This may take a while to explain..."

"A while ago, you and I went on a mission to destroy a monster who went by the name of Count Dracula. Along the way you befriended Anna Valerious-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. My dad made me watch the movie. Van Helsing and Anna discover that the only way to kill Dracula was the bite of a werewolf. Anna's brother became a werewolf, bit Van Helsing, Van Helsing became a werewolf and killed the Count along with Anna. It was a stupid movie," I cut in. I heard Anna give a sigh of annoyance. Carl's jaw was clenched.

"Fine, be like that then. Anyway, as we were heading back to Rome for our next assignment, we came across these old ruins- the Ruins of Castle Lamia. I wanted to check it out. You wanted to make straight for Rome. So I checked it out. The thing is, Castle Lamia doesn't exist, at least not in the physical scale anyway. Castle Lamia is a Time-Stop Zone- it exists outside the borders of time. It doesn't follow the rules of time. This means it can appear whenever it wants. It can twist time, create paradoxes and well, turn adults into children.

As I walked through the ruins of Castle Lamia, it... appeared all around me. One moment I was walking through the ruins and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the body of a child with Anna shaking me."

"You know, this sounds like a really bad sci-fi movie," I replied. Carl shrugged.

"I know," he said.

"Wait, if you're from 1889, then how do you know what a movie is?" I asked.

"We're not the only people caught in this trap. I asked around, turns out people from the future are trapped here as well."

"Right, and you expect me to believe this," I gulped. Anna let out a groan.

"Carl, forget it. The Van Helsing we knew is gone until he regains his memory."

"I can totally see that," Carl said tightly. I was about to lurch into a whole monologue on why I didn't believe them when I heard a scream.

Anna hurried and unlocked the door. I heard her stifle a gasp. Carl went over and peered out.

"Who's the guy with the creepy stage make-up?" he asked. I wondered what was going on so I went over and peeked outside.

No way.

A boy was being led away. He was obviously my age (seriously, every child I come across in this hotel is my age). But that wasn't point. The boy was being led by a man who wore black old-style Victorian clothing. His hair was a black messy tangle except for a white streak that stood out.

I was staring at none other than Sweeney Todd.

For those of you that don't know who Sweeney Todd is, he's a character from the movie musical Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street, another one of my Dad's favourites. It's about a dude named Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett.

The Dude was a psychopath- he slashed the throat of everybody he met. Mrs Lovett baked all the bodies into pies and sold them to the public.

Not a nice story.

As I peered out the door with Anna and Carl, Sweeney Todd stopped walking turned his head and looked right at me.

"Do you mind? I have business with your friend," he snarled, and continued to drag the boy away. The boy looked desperately at us.

"Anna, help me!" he pleaded.

"Shut it, boy," Sweeney snapped. Anna lurched forward but Carl held her back. Sweeney Todd laughed and opened the door of room 110 then shoved the boy inside. Still laughing, he slammed the door shut.

I had no idea what to make of the situation. This wasn't real, right? But the more I thought about it, the more confused I was. It seemed like everything I had ever known was being turned upside. This was almost too much.

"What are we going to do?" Carl asked. Anna stared at room 110's door looking like she wanted to burn a hole in it.

"We do what we do best- we go in there, we bust some heads, and we get my brother out alive."

Before Anna could march in there all dramatic and stuff, I grabbed her arm.

"Did I just hear you say _brother_?" I hissed.

"Elijah, I don't have the time to deal with you!" she snapped. She started to pull away.

"Wait! If all of this is real, than I must warn you about… that guy in there… he's insane."

Anna jerked away from me.

"I figured that," she said coldly. Turning away from me, Anna walked dramatically up to Sweeney Todd's door, opened it, and went in.

Reluctantly, Carl and I followed her, though not as dramatic. Sweeney Todd was busy trying to force the boy into a barber's chair.

"Let my brother go!" Anna shouted. Sweeney Todd looked didn't look up.

"Well, well, what 'ave we here?" a voice behind me said. We spun around to find a woman locking the door. I recognised her as Mrs Lovett. She smiled at us.

"That pesky boy just so happened to witness something he shouldn't have," Mrs Lovett told us.

"You slit the throat of that old lady!" the boy shouted. Sweeney Todd shoved him into the chair.

"Let Vulcan go!" Anna shouted again.

"Sorry, love, but I'm afraid I can't do that. On the bright side, I need more filling for my pies."

"That is just sick," I muttered. Mrs Lovett laughed.

"Boy, stop resisting. This will only hurt... a lot," Sweeney said. Suddenly, Anna charged at Sweeney Todd. But Sweeney Todd shoved her and Mrs Lovett darted forward and wrapped her arms around Anna's neck. Anna squirmed but Mrs Lovett must have been stronger than she looked.

"Wait your turn, love," Mrs Lovett said darkly.

I didn't know what to make of the situation. Sweeney Todd was going to kill us. I had to think fast. How was Sweeney Todd killed? What was his greatest weakness? Then, quite suddenly, I had an idea.

"Hey Sweeney Todd, I know something you don't know!" I said quickly. Sweeney Todd turned to face me.

"What would a coward like you know?" he rasped. I swallowed.

"Mrs Lovett is a liar. You wife isn't dead," I said. Sweeney Todd's eyes drifted to Mrs Lovett's face. If looks could kill, Mrs Lovett probably would be dead ten thousand times over.

"Explain yourself!" Sweeney said sharply. Mrs Lovett suddenly looked nervous.

"The boy is lying, Mr Todd. Your wife poisoned herself with Arsenic."

"If that's the case, who's that?" I pointed. Anna and Carl looked surprised. They hadn't noticed the dead body on the floor but _I _did and I knew exactly who it was. Sweeney Todd forgot about Vulcan and leaned closer to examine the body. Mrs Lovett turned a sickly shade of pale.

"That's my wife. I slit the throat of my wife," Sweeney Todd said quietly. He walked slowly to Mrs Lovett who let Anna drop to the floor.

"You told me she was dead!" Sweeney Todd shouted.

"No! I told you she tried to poison herself with arsenic! I didn't say she was dead!" Mrs Lovett shouted back.

"Mrs Lovett, you should know by now that I despise people you try to make a fool out of me!"

"Mr Todd, please don't kill me!"

"I'm afraid I must."

"But look at what we've achieved together!"

"I think you should be quiet now."

While Sweeney Todd was distracted, I glanced around the room, looking for a weapon. Then I spotted them. It was a pair of spring-activated handheld buzz saws called Tojo Blades- the same ones Van Helsing uses. Judging by how sharp they looked, they weren't props.

_Cool_, I thought picking them up. I looked up in time to see Sweeney Todd slitting Mrs Lovett's throat.

Oh, that's a lot of blood.

Sweeney Todd turned around. I quickly activated the Tojo Blades. I wasn't afraid of him anymore. I was invincible. The tables were turned. Adrenaline flooded my system and before you could say _worst pies in London_ (a song from Sweeney Todd), Sweeney Todd no longer had a head.

And trust me, _that_ resulted in a lot blood.

"Elijah?" Carl said uncertainly. I stood there, sweating and panting hard. What had just happened there? One moment I was confused and scared and the next moment I was decapitating Sweeney Todd.

Vulcan stepped forward.

"Dude, that was totally freaking awesome! You totally owned that psychopathic weirdo!" he offered me a knuckle bump.

"Vulcan!" Anna shouted in delight, embracing her brother.

"Yo' Sis', wossup?" Vulcan grinned. Carl eyed me up and down.

"If you're not Van Helsing, how do you know how to work the Tojo Blades?" he asked. I shrugged.

"I told you- I watched the movie."

"You're holding them upside down, by the way."

"Whatever."

"What a strange thing to say."

"Excuse me?"

"'_Whatever_' is a weird word and why is Vulcan talking like an uncivilised person?"

"Get used to it- it's what people say these days."

"O'K! If you two are done discussion modern language, can we please get out of here? Being in a room with dead people makes me uncomfortable!" Anna shouted.

"No kidding," Vulcan agreed.

We quickly made our way out of the room. I figured we were about to give the Hotel's maintenance cleaners a heart attack when they walked in that room.

Whatever.

We locked ourselves in Anna's hotel room. Vulcan passed out on the bunk bed and Anna went in to have a shower. Carl showed me how to hold the Tojo Blades properly and afterwards I fell asleep.

It was late in the morning when Anna shook me awake.

"We are going down to get some food. You hungry?" she asked.

"Yeah, but if they're serving pie, I'm not eating," I joked. Anna laughed.

I still had some of Sweeney's blood on me so I took a shower. The water felt good. My jacket had blood all over it so I stashed it in the bin.

On our way down, we passed Sweeney Todd's room. It was spotless.

"I wonder what they did with the bodies?" Vulcan wondered. Carl and Anna groaned.

"Let's not think of that," I said quickly.

We passed the reception desk. This time, there were three pale reception ladies. I paused when I looked at their name tags.

Aleera, Marishka and Verona- Dracula's three vampire brides from the movie _Van Helsing_.

They all smiled when they caught me looking.

Creepy.

When we entered the cafeteria, I blinked. Was it just me, or was everybody eating something that looked suspiciously like _brains_? Best not dwell on it.

They were still serving breakfast so I ordered some bacon and eggs. I didn't bother paying for it- payment will come later although I still had a bad feeling about that.

We sat down at a table and got down to business.

"So... How are we going to escape this weird creepy castle filled with weird creepy people?" Vulcan asked.

"I don't know," Anna shrugged.

"Why can't we just, like, walk out the front door?" I asked.

"We'll most likely end up in a different time period, Elijah," Carl said, using a know-all tone in his voice. A thought crossed my mind.

"Hey, I still need to find my parents," I said. I saw Anna and Carl exchange a glance.

"You parents are most likely non-existent," Carl said.

"Shut up!" I snapped. Everybody around the table jumped.

"Take a chill-pill, Elijah," Vulcan said.

"What does that even mean?" Anna asked.

"It's probably some saying in the near future," Carl answered.

"Can we please focus here? Look, I know you guys think I'm Van Helsing but I'm not! My parents are somewhere in this hotel and I'm going to find them with or without you help!" I shouted. Everybody in the cafeteria was watching me. I didn't care. Carl spoke up.

"Elijah, listen very carefully, we don't know where you parents are but I know somebody who might.

Carl led us to room number 92. He knocked on the door three times.

"What's the password?" a voice said.

"Uh," said Carl.

"Incorrect, come in."

Carl shrugged and opened the door. Once inside, my mouth fell open. Sitting on a chair in the middle of the room was...

"Jack Sparrow?" Carl asked. Jack Sparrow eyed us in annoyance.

"There should be a Captain in there somewhere," Jack said.

I was speechless. Captain Jack Sparrow was a pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean played by Johnny Depp, the same guy who played Sweeney Todd.

"Captain Jack Sparrow, my friend here has informed us that you can tell us the whereabouts of Elijah's parents," Anna said.

"What makes you think I'd tell you that?" Jack asked.

"Dude, your outfit is awesome," Vulcan exclaimed.

"So you _do_ know where Elijah's parents are?" Anna proclaimed. Jack sat forward in his chair.

"Do me a favour and go away."

"Not until you tell me where my parents are!" I snapped. Jack eyed me up and down.

"Do you think this wise, boy, crossing wits and stubbornness with a pirate?" he asked.

"Just tell me where my parents are and then we'll be on our way," I insisted.

"An idiot stole my rum a few hours ago. Calls himself Edward and has this funny habit of sparkling in the sun," Jack said.

"What's this got to do with us?" Anna asked.

"Bring me back my rum and I'll give you the tools you need to escape this Hotel."

"What about my parents?" I asked. Jack shrugged.

"Find me my rum."

"But-"

"FIND MY BLAZING RUM!"

"O.K, O.K! Fine, we'll do it!" I shouted. I never knew Jack Sparrow could be a total jerk in real life. But I figured that if I didn't help this guy, I would never find my parents.

"Who's this Edward guy anyway?" Anna asked. A sense of dread washed over me as I remembered what Jack had said about Edward.

"He's some form of a fairy. He thinks he's a vampire but vampires don't sparkle in the sun- they explode," Jack said, confirming my worst suspicions. No. Please no. Not Edward Cullen from Twilight. Why couldn't of it been a different Edward? Like an Edward Smith or an Edward Scissorhands. Sometimes, life can be your worst bully or your best friend. Or it can suck like mine does at this moment in this messed up time.

"Where can we find him?" asked Carl. Jack shrugged.

"Try the reception."

Oh why, oh why, does it have to be Edward Cullen?

Aleera, Marishka and Verona, the brides of Count Dracula and this Hotel's twisted reception ladies, turned out to be more co-operative then I expected.

"Are you looking for that moron fairy, Edward?" Aleera asked, examining her manicured nails.

"Yes," I said immediately.

"The one that sparkles in the sun?" Marishka asked, running a brush through her silky hair.

"That'll be the one," Carl agreed.

"The one that makes us real vampires look bad?" Verona asked, taking an elegant sip of what I hoped was red cordial.

"Do you know where he is or not?" Anna asked moodily.

"Alright, calm down!" Aleera screeched.

"You have such pretty eyes," Vulcan said dreamily. He yelped as Anna elbowed his side.

"I take it back sis'!" he shouted.

"You'd better," Anna warned.

"On the contrary, it's nice to be thought of as pretty," Aleera said, eyes flashing.

"Okay... I don't like where this conversation is going so I'll say it now- tell us where this Edward guy is and we'll do something about you reputation," Carl said.

"Hmmm, that does sound like a reasonable deal, Aleera," Verona purred.

"Yes! And if they restore our reputations, might get a pay rise from our boss!" Marishka gushed. A thought struck me.

"Who's your boss? Is he in charge of the entire castle?" I asked.


End file.
